Masterpiece Blue with Eye: The Lobelia That Won’t Quit

Kalamazoo Flower Group in Michigan operates similarly to a co-op organization: it consists of three primary shareholders and 21 greenhouse growers ranging in size from small growers to greenhouse operations that exceed 15 acres. The main responsibility of the organization is to maintain relationships between its growers and its primary sales channels.

Right now, those primary channels are Meijer, Walmart, Lowe’s, and Menards. And the flowers those channels receive primarily depends on what Brent Troost, production manager of Kalamazoo Flower Group, and the team decide.

“At the end of the day, I want the plant to be reasonably priced and I want it to work,” he says. “Each of the four channels we sell into has a program lead that helps direct the trends they’re seeing across the industry, in field observations, greenhouse trials, and internal discussions.”

One variety that’s recently checked all three of those boxes is Benary’s Masterpiece Blue with Eye. It’s fairly priced, performs well, and is trendy—a combination that tends to catch a garden center shopper’s eye.

Taking a Closer Look at the Masterpiece Blue with Eye

Historically, Lobelias have been known to burn out and quickly turn into dead plants when spring temperatures start heating up. But newer varieties are starting to change that narrative.

“I have seen huge developments in our industry. Breeders are really problem solving to develop crops that stick around,” Troost says. “I make the joke sometimes that some plants are so good that people never need to replace them.”

Troost has had an extremely positive experience with Benary’s Masterpiece Blue with Eye. He says growers are drawn to the vigor of the plant, as most Lobelia varieties are wispy and don’t respond well to plant growth regulators (PGRs).

“Many Lobelias are overly responsive to PGRs,” he explains. “They tend to hunker down and resist growing. Older Lobelia genetics tend to respond to PGRs not always in a positive manner. But with the Masterpiece Blue with Eye, you can use light rates of PGRs without the plant becoming overregulated.”

In other words, the plant tolerates PGR treatment without shutting down the way some other Lobelias can.

That responsiveness is what helps growers shape the plant without stunting it: filling out pots and hanging baskets fully rather than ending up stunted and looking weak or spindly.

What Greenhouse Growers Are Saying

Sportel Greenhouse in Kalamazoo originally trialed the Masterpiece Blue with Eye and saw positive results. As Troost says, they loved it.

A similar story played out at Ken’s Greenhouse in the spring of 2026. This particular operation did a side-by-side trial with the Masterpiece Blue and a vegetative Lobelia variety and applied PGRs.

“Guess which one turned out? The Masterpiece Blue did,” he says. “Since they tried to manage both varieties with PGRs, they unintentionally overregulated the vegetative one. The Masterpiece Blue turned out well, and they shipped out almost all of it.”

That’s why Troost gives greenhouse growers a disclaimer that the Masterpiece Blue isn’t a typical Lobelia. When they grow both side by side and apply the same treatments, it’s likely that the other varieties could become overregulated and stunted.

Separating a Trial Variety From One That Actually Performs

So, how does Troost separate a plant with real staying power from one that just looked good on a trial day? The first thing he looks at is how many plants are in the pot. Industry trial gardens are not always reality. Sometimes the trial plants start off with more plants per pot than is commercially feasible to grow and make profit. “I always try to count or ask how many plants per pot there are in a trial garden,” Troost says.

“Plants per pot is a big deal,” he adds. “The plant has to naturally want to fill out, grow, and flourish. That’s the difference between a trial and reality.”

The Masterpiece Blue with Eye passed that test with flying colors—it takes one plug to fill out a 4.5-inch pot and three plugs for a nice 10-inch hanging basket.

Trialing Before Replacing

Before they even consider replacing their existing varieties, Troost encourages growers to trial new plants on a small scale.

“You don’t want to go all in on something new that might be a problem,” he says. “Trial it first. We always try to shoot for 5% of a program with a new variety—it’s enough to be seen, but not enough to disrupt the program if something goes wrong.”

One of Troost’s main responsibilities is trialing new varieties with Kalamazoo Flower Group’s greenhouse affiliates. He trials new items and matches them to the right growers—pairing each grower’s capabilities with the right plant genetics to set their programs up for success.

That’s the real test for any new variety: not whether it looks good on a trial day, but whether it’s still standing at the end of the season. So far, the Masterpiece Blue with Eye has only proven itself.